Caravelas is a city of about 20,000 inhabitants in southern Bahia, Brazil, a few miles above the mouth of the Caravelas River. Caravelas was founded in 1581 by Portuguese settlers. It was once the centre of a flourishing whale fishery. It is the port of the Bahia & Minas railway pt. Caravelas is the nearest town to the uninhabited Abrolhos Archipelago. The city contains part of the Cassurubá Extractive Reserve, a 100768 ha sustainable use conservation unit that protects an area of mangroves, river and sea where shellfish are harvested. The city is served by Caravelas Airport.